I always liked that way of opening them. I think a button is not as ergonomic.I noticed the other day how well the Tangas stack up against their later brethren. Thanks to the interior upgrades, I think the average commuter would barely notice the difference over an A set or an Oscar. The M sets might stand out due to their seating and vocal drives.

push button rather than a handle for the inter-car doorschange of the saloon seating to fold up for wheelchair accessaddition of handrail and help points (incomplete) above the saloon seating, similar to a Waratahmove of help points to the saloon side of the vestibule rather than the upper / lower deck sidered upholstered seating on one side of saloon signifying for aged / disability customers

No. That is a refurbished car with yellow poles and monkey bar style hand-holds in the ceiling. The date in the file history says: 09:15, 14 October 2011 so maybe whoever created it in 2008 replaced it later.

Other than this news article about the drivers' desk: http://www.manningrivertimes.com.au/sto ... omination/ there is no update. They have slipped several deadlines, and are now forecasting 2019 completion rather than the July 2018 that the state contracted UGL for. I wish I could miss my work deadlines by that much and still get such a big payday.

I've asked a state MP to follow it up, and they may do a GIPAA (fka FOI) request to see what is going on:

back in August 2015, the Government awarded a contract to UGL Unipart for $131M to upgrade over 400 Tangara train cars. The work was supposed to be completed by July 2018.

To date, they have completed zero, over 2 years later. As far as I know, they are about a year late on even delivering a prototype.

These upgrades included CCTV which is de rigueur in modern trains for passenger safety, as well more accommodations for people with a disability.

As you know, a large part of the rail network is served exclusively by these Tangara trains, i.e. the Illawarra / Eastern Suburbs line, so effectively, passengers using that line are being discriminated against by not having these upgrades completed in a timely manner.

Perhaps you could please ask Minister Constance, or his representative in the Legislative Council, why the delay?

Taking into account they already made the doors (subjectively!) aesthetically uglier and really cheap-looking than what they replaced + sucked out a bit of the Tangara's original character by doing that, I'm not really too hopeful. The prototype picture I saw but is now gone was also ugly, they basically made the vestibule seats even smaller and more cramped + uncomfortable, if they've moved away from that, thats good.

I'm glad they appeared to have backed away from changing the door chimes to what I heard earlier this year (y)

But otherwise, not too pleased this is running substantially late. Tangara's are almost 30 years old as hard as it is to believe (I feel old now!)

2119 - Transport and Infrastructure - TANGARA TRAINS TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE PROJECTFaruqi, Mehreen to the Minister for Resources, Minister for Energy and Utilities, Minister for Arts, Vice-President of the Executive Council representing the Minister for Transport and InfrastructureFor the Tangara Trains Technology Upgrade project, the completion date on the contract was stated as 29 May 2018. In the September 2017 Fleet Delivery Program newsletter from Transport for NSW, the completion date has been changed to 2019. The newsletter states, "Upgrades are expected to be complete in 2019". Why has there been a delay on this project?Has there been any change to the project cost, from the original cost of $131 million when the contract was awarded to UGL in 2014?If yes, how much is the change on cost?How much of this cost change is due to changes in the delivery timeline, if any?Is the project cost projected to change before completion?How many Tangara trains are currently out of the rolling stock?How many of the Tangara trains are out of the rolling stock due to this change in the delivery timeline?Who bears the cost of Tangara trains staying out of the rolling stock due to delays in project delivery?Why has a recommendation from the Waterfall inquiry to install Automatic Train Protection been delayed to this extent on Tangara trains?When will the Tangara trains upgrade be completed? Please provide a date.Question asked on 15 March 2018 (session 56-1) and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 146No answer has been printed.Answer due on 19 April 2018.

It would have been good to include: "When will the first train be completed?" as well as the implied question of "when will the last train be completed?"

Being asked a question in Parliament is different to the great unwashed asking a question, so the dictators are obliged to give an answer. Given ultimate responsibility for the answer is from Constance, anything could happen tho.

Mehreen is a civil engineer, so she may have a greater understanding of, or capacity to understand, the terminology than other aspirants.

Here is the "answer" to the question. It's absolutely pathetic and doesn't answer any of the points raised. Constance is hopeless and will be a major factor in Berejyklian's government going down in a years time.

Answer -I am advised :

As the Member will be aware, Labor was in power when the Waterfall disaster happened, but in the 7 years after the disaster, Labor did nothing to roll out Automatic Train Protection across the network

When this Government came to power it moved as quickly as possible to start to deliver on the Waterfall recommendations. Following the completion of a technology trial in 2014, a decision was made to revise the type of technology being proposed to be rolled out to better respond to the project requirements and to respond to technological advances in the intervening period.

Transport for NSW continues to work with its contractors to ensure that the Tangara Technology Upgrade and Automatic Train Protection is rolled out across the network as quickly as possible.

Question asked on 15 March 2018 (session 56-1) and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 146Answer received on 19 April 2018 and to be printed in a Questions & Answers Paper on 1 May 2018